#if you’re not ever going to give him narrative significance

[untherapized-eddie]

i do still feel some kind of way about how many recurring characters of color have vanished. i know there's still a chance of them popping up this season but correct me if i’m wrong we haven't seen carla, linda, tía pepa, toni, or albert since s6. one s7 wedding cameo from abuela. and no evidence that ravi will be back, i think anirudh is currently filming some other project

[steddieas-shegoes]

Steve Harrington having a stutter? maybe Eddie and Steve are in an interview after revealing their relationship to the public (kinda ties with ur rockstar eddie drabbles?) and people make fun of his stutter. Hes always had it, he just doesn't talk in public so its a surprise to everyone that he has a stutter and that they actually get to hear his voice

So I know the request said he always had the stutter, but I wanted to do something head trauma related for this because Eddie is gonna get a little overprotective and says some stuff about his very amazing husband to be. I've never written a character having a stutter before, so I hopefully made it realistic. In my head, he struggled with some hard consonants and 'th', 'ch', and 'sh' sounds. - Mickala ❤️

------------------------------------------------------

“Everyone please give your warmest welcome to Eddie Munson and Steve Harrington!”

They walked onto the stage with smiles and waves, hands clasped between them as they walked to the couch they’d be sitting on for their interview.

They chose this talk show host, Hannah, because she wasn’t pushy, asked heartfelt questions, and wanted to get the genuine stories out there.

Steve had been nervous to be on any talk show, so he was the one who made the decision to be on this one and Eddie was happy to oblige.

Her viewers may not have been his usual crowd, but if it made Steve more comfortable, he didn’t really care.

“Wow, that was a warm welcome!” Eddie exclaimed.

He wanted to keep it light; Steve’s hand in his was sweaty and shaking, and he knew Hannah could see his nerves.

“I think everyone is just so excited to have you here! You’re not our usual guest, I’ll be honest, so you’re shaking things up for all of us.” She smiled before looking at Steve. “Now, let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way first. Steve, that ring on your finger sure is a beauty!”

He glanced down at it for a moment, smiling to himself.

Eddie proposed a month ago, on their week-long getaway to Greece, and as much as they tried to hide it, it was on the cover of every tabloid and online news article within 24 hours.

They hadn’t even come out officially yet.

It caused Steve to panic, and then Eddie panicked, and then they both decided to take control of their own narrative and do this interview.

“Th-thank you,” Steve replied. “Eddie did g-good, didn’t he?”

Steve’s stutter was barely noticeable when they were in a comfortable environment, especially since they’d been together for so long. But when they were in a stressful situation, or around new people, or both, it became more obvious.

Steve had already spoken to Hannah about it beforehand, said he wouldn’t mind talking about it as long as it wasn’t the focus of the interview. She agreed and said that she would follow his lead on everything, and Eddie warned her he wouldn’t hesitate to walk them both off the stage if Steve got uncomfortable.

“He did great! Honestly, I’ll have to get you to show my husband how to pick an engagement ring. Bless his heart, he tried. Luckily, we married for love and not his ability to know what I want in a ring.”

The audience laughed, and Steve couldn’t help letting out a small giggle.

“Soooo…tell us how he did it!” Hannah continued, eyes glimmering under the stage lights.

“Um.” Steve took in a shaky breath. “We were at a p-priv-vate d-dinner on the beach-ch.” Eddie squeezed his hand once, smiling over at him as he let him lead. “He s-sang me a s-song and th-then proposed.”

“How romantic,” Hannah rested her head in her hands and sighed. “Everyone in the audience is going to show this to their significant others for them to take notes, I’m sure.”

“He left out the part where I also bought him the fancy wine he wanted only for it to be the worst thing we’ve ever tasted and we ended up giving it to a couple further down the beach,” Eddie added, playfully nudging Steve’s shoulder.

“Yeah, w-well,” Steve shrugged, blushing profusely.

“What a letdown! Hopefully the other couple liked it,” Hannah laughed.

“They didn’t complain, but honestly we didn’t stick around for too long. We were freshly engaged and had much better things to be doing,” Eddie winked at the audience.

“Oh, I bet you did!” Hannah smiled before getting more serious. “So you’ve been together for a while?”

“We were friends when we were really young, and it grew into more when Steve was supporting me and my band in the local bar scene. We’ve dated for almost four years now.”

“Awww. And you’ll be getting married pretty soon, right?” Hannah asked.

“Yes, we d-decided on next March-ch,” Steve added. “Spring is when w-we met-t.”

“Lovely! I’m sure the wedding will be quite the party.”

“We’re keeping it pretty small, just family and our circle of friends. My bandmates will be there. Just us back at home with the people who love us,” Eddie smiled.

“I think that sounds wonderful.” Hannah clapped her hands. “So, Eddie, with all this excitement in your personal life, what’s it look like for the band?”

“I’ll be on tour with them for August and September, and then we’ll be working hard on recording the next album in October and November so we can have it out next year. I won’t be doing anything else until after the wedding, though. I promised Stevie I’d help him plan everything.”

The crowd cheered, and Steve spoke up.

“He also p-promised t-to visit the loc-cation with me in Novemb-ber so we’ll see,” Steve teased, seeming to relax quite a bit more.

The interview carried on, mostly focusing on Eddie’s band and some more casual talk of the wedding and future plans.

Steve never completely relaxed, but he seemed much more at ease as Hannah focused more on Eddie for a few minutes, smiling at Steve when he decided to add something.

“Alright, that’s all the time we have boys! It was lovely to have you and we’re so looking forward to your future together!”

The audience cheered, the boys waved goodbye, and they walked back to the green room to grab some water before going back to their hotel.

Eddie stopped Steve in the hall, ignoring the people passing by, and pulled Steve against him.

“I’m so proud of you, sweetheart,” he whispered against his lips before pressing a soft kiss there. “You’re amazing.”

“Eds, st-stop,” Steve blushed.

“Nope, wanna tell you all the time. You’re incredible.”

“F-fine.”

—--------------------

Steve is a lovely person, and I will not tolerate hate comments on anything related to the interview I did with him and Eddie. My team always does the best with reporting hate comments, so keep that in mind before posting something you may regret later. Any Eddie Munson fan should know that Eddie wouldn’t accept this disgusting behavior towards his fiance.

Steve could feel tears welling in his eyes as he read Hannah’s lovely public comment about some of the hate she’d been receiving in regards to their interview.

One comment in particular had hurt to see: a fan claiming that Eddie just felt bad for him and didn’t want to break up with him because Steve would run to the press with negative stories about him.

Eddie was still asleep, hadn’t seen most of what was being posted since the interview aired first thing that morning, but Steve did.

He liked Hannah’s statement and posted it to his Instagram story with a heart emoji.

He went through some responses from Eddie’s bandmates and liked them, too.

Steve is probably the best thing that’s happened to all of us, so any “fan” of ours who doesn’t see how awesome he is, consider yourself uninvited to any show. Gareth posted.

You guys better hope Eddie doesn’t hop on here and see all this or he’ll end up hunting you for sport. Jeff joked, though Steve knew that he may be more right than not.

Imagine being so jealous of someone that you decide to make fun of the one thing they’re self-conscious about. Couldn’t be me. Grant posted on all his social media profiles.

Then he saw Robin’s post and his heart stopped for a moment.

My best friend is the bravest person I know. He only has a stutter because he risked his life to protect me. If head trauma is a joke to you, then I hope you find new material soon. When Eddie sees this, he’s gonna lose his shit.

Steve let out a mix of a sob and a laugh, startling Eddie awake.

“What is it, sweetheart? What’s wrong?” he asked as he sat up in their bed.

“I g-guess p-people aren’t a b-big fan of me,” he said as he held his phone out towards Eddie to show him what was going on.

Eddie’s face flushed red with anger before he calmly handed Steve his phone back.

“Eds?”

Eddie silently reached for his own phone and pulled up his notes app.

Steve watched him type furiously for a few minutes, then screenshot a couple of times, and open Instagram.

“Eds…it’s fine. Not w-worth it.”

But it was too late, and Steve’s phone went off with a notification that he’d been tagged in Eddie’s post.

It was a series of pictures, the first being a picture taken of them shortly after Steve’s worst head injury, when he barely could speak at all.

The next few images were the screenshots from Eddie’s phone.

I can’t believe I have to say this, but here goes. Steve Harrington, soon-to-be Munson, is the best person I know. I am lucky to be able to wake up next to him, to call him mine, to be his. He is incredibly brave, incredibly loving, and much too forgiving. He will be much nicer than I will. He is not defined by his stutter, but it is a part of his life, and it does impact him much more than he should ever have to worry about. But that picture you just saw? That was a man who could barely even say my name. I thought I would never hear him even say my name again. I’ve seen comments making fun of how he talks, how long it takes him to say some things, his intelligence. And I won’t tolerate it. If you have anything negative to say about him, unfollow me before I block you myself. Fame means absolutely nothing to me compared to this man, and I won’t let him suffer through the bullying just so I can make some fucking music. See yourself out or see us be happy. Up to you.

The last image was a picture of them the night before, cozy in their bed, Steve looking into the camera while Eddie looked at him, so much love passing from him it was almost a physical presence.

“Eds-” Steve started.

“I love you. I won’t let anyone let you think for a second that I don’t,” Eddie said fiercely.

“I know. I l-love you, t-too.”

They both shut off their phones for the rest of the day, didn’t care much for anything outside of their bed.

Steve called Hannah to thank her for everything the next day, and she was grateful to hear from him. He explained that he wouldn’t be doing any more interviews, but was glad he’d had a positive experience with her.

“Do you think Eddie will come back to the show someday to talk about you?” she asked.

“I th-think you’ll reg-gret asking him back. He won’t sh-shut up about me,” Steve smirked to himself.

“He shouldn’t. You’re both so lucky to have each other.”

“Yeah. W-we are.”

[musicalmoritz]

TBHK Mischaracterization

Imo the leading cause behind mischaracterization in the TBHK fandom is that most fans either don’t understand the characters or they dislike them, so they subconsciously rewrite the story to fit their narrative. I don’t have as much of a problem with this when fans are upfront about it, if I don’t like it I just ignore it; but many fans don’t even realize they’re doing it

This type of rewriting is further allowed by the fact that the fanon TBHK characters don’t look like stereotypical fanon tropes. Fanon Kou isn’t an abusive womanizer, he’s a helpless puppy who can do no wrong. They can get away with that because technically that characterization is drawn from canon, Kou is a very kind person and a gentleman. But they run with those two traits until he loses all of the agency and nuance that he has in canon

Similarly, fanon Mitsuba isn’t an uwu soft boy who needs Kou’s help to tie his shoe. He’s a grumpy edgelord that goes out of his way to be rude to people. This is pulled from him having no filter in canon, but that’s where they end his characterization. They take away all of the softness that makes his character so unique. If someone said Mitsuba is the type to cry when his boyfriend ignores him, many fans would probably call that ooc, despite the fact that it’s canon. Because they don’t want to admit that Mitsuba is emotional, or that Kou is mean to a lot of people

To give the fandom the benefit of the doubt, I do think this comes from a fear of going in the opposite direction with fanon. They don’t want to turn Mitsukou into fanon Baku//Deku, so their solution is to swap the roles and make Mitsuba the fanon Bakugou and Kou the fanon Deku. Those should not be our only two options. We should be able to talk about these characters without reducing them to tropes

This goes for all the characters, they’re mischaracterized to be more digestible. Fans don’t have to put any work into analyzing Akane’s character if they reduce him to a creep. They don’t have to think too deeply about the Minamoto’s home life if they make Teru out to be an abuser. They don’t have to wrap their heads around a female character having an unlikable personality if they limit her to one half of a wlw ship. And so on, and so forth

I will also say that since romance is such a major part of TBHK, you’re going to have to put extra work into maintaining accurate characterization for fanon ships. That’s not to say you can’t enjoy fanon ships, I’m like the biggest multishipper ever, but when you’re writing them keep in mind that you’re removing love stories that are integral to a character’s arc and development. They can still be kept in character but try to imagine what they would be like if they didn’t have that development, or if the development happened differently

For instance, if Kou never fell in love with Mitsuba, he never would have learned how to be selfish. He wouldn’t know what it feels like to be relied on, and a lot of his significant character flaws would be erased. So how does that play out if he falls for Hanako or Nene instead? Does he have a similar arc or do things go a little differently? What problems would arise within those relationships that we don’t see with Mitsukou?? If you’re writing them pre-Mitsuba arc then you won’t run into as many problems, but after that Kou falling for someone else would change things up a bit. Just like Hanako and Nene falling for other people would majorly change the direction of the story. It can be done, but do it carefully

A lot of the time with fanon pairings I see fans just sort of try to copy and paste the dynamic of the canon ships. With Aoinene, I’ve seen people write Nene to be the only one who understands Aoi. That removes all of Aoi and Nene’s canon conflict and turns them into wlw AoiAoi. Let ships have their own dynamics and conflict!!

That’s not to say canon ships don’t require any effort for characterization ofc, I did start this off talking about how Mitsuba and Kou are mischaracterized by Mitsukou shippers. They just have an easier start because Kou and Mitsuba being in love with each other already maintains a prominent element of canon. It changes nothing about the direction of the story the way a fanon pairing would. Keep in mind tho, just because that one element remains close to canon doesn’t mean everything else is gonna go right. I see fans butcher the canon ships all the time lol

I obviously give more leeway to AUs but like, guys. Can we please sit down and read the manga😭

[merakiui]

Yan jamil w kalim's pov is the biggest brain thing I've ever heard in my entire fuckinv life. Do it I'm on my hands and knees w tears streaming down my face like a pathetic kicked kitten please mera do it do it do it

>:) the itch to write it is so strong!!! I like the idea of Kalim being a background character who is observing (Name) and Jamil interacting and he keeps thinking along the lines of: he doesn’t know you like I know you. Because while Jamil’s written to love you to horrifying degrees in accordance with the plot, Kalim doesn’t have a role and is able to glide through the story without a significant status. For once the spotlight is entirely on Jamil, and Kalim is not a fan of that because he loves you—the real you. The you behind the (Name) who is being paired with Jamil.

I want to write Kalim leaving you all kinds of chilling messages throughout the story while keeping his usual bubbly tone. Things that start innocent and spiral as the story progresses because he realizes he’s stuck in a narrative that will never give him a chance with you. Kalim’s going to be considerably more unhinged than Jamil because there is no plot forcing him to act a certain way.

I also want to write lines like this: Can you read this? Is my message coming through? I wonder what you’re doing right now while you’re reading this. Are you reading on a phone? Don’t strain your eyes! Take breaks. Jamil isn’t going anywhere. And neither am I. :D

And if I’m satisfied with the execution of a concept like this, I might write it for other characters!!! I’d like to write it with Rollo, who criticizes you throughout the story but then doesn’t follow his own advice because he’s obsessed with you. T-T or Riddle who is writing to you through one of Trey’s recipes. There’s so much possibility!!!!!!

[bestworstcase]

You’ve mentioned a few times that Salem is awkward, could you get into you’re reasoning and evidence for this characterization (as she is currently)? I’m fascinated by this reading and fully persuadable. Her origin story being the tower, it makes sense she’d be a little socially stunted but she was charismatic enough then to convince others to fight for her through words alone (tho that is different from in person social skills (to that point she persuaded kingdoms to revolt against the gods)). Millions of years of isolation wouldn’t put a shine on amicability, but these things /inform/ characterization. I’m interested in what you see in her as awkward in how she’s presented to us in the Current Era (Remnant Era?)

this post regarding her interrogation of oscar in 8.4 is salient because that's the scene that rly convinced me she's being written this way on purpose. there's a lot of contributing factors, though:

both then (fomenting rebellion) and now (recruiting hazel), salem's standard approach to getting people on her side involves basically walking up and "demonstrating her powers," i.e. inviting or just letting the person she's trying to sway kill her over and over again until they're willing to hear her out. she can (and did) make a compelling enough argument for people to follow her, but the way she chooses to make people listen is by subjecting herself to extreme violence.

further, it's shown in V8 that even within her own inner circle, there is a lot of confusion regarding what salem wants—so much so that tyrian and hazel think diametrically opposed things. why does this confusion exist? ozpin (and most of the fandom) believe it is because salem lies; but a) salem hates lies and liars, and b) the idea that salem herself is deceitful is founded on things jinn says of her in the lost fable, which is a verifiably unreliable narrative. if we look at the two onscreen instances of salem speaking of her goals—"the moment you put your desires before my own" and "in pursuit of a new world"—what strikes me about both is her vagueness.

when cinder questions her in V5, salem answers in a very oblique way: "working with bandits? leaving ruby alive? what's the point!?" -> "never underestimate the usefulness of others; take leonardo. he was one of ozpin's most trusted, but now…" both the bandit (raven) and ruby were or are among ozpin's "most trusted," and salem's point is that she wants to turn both of them against ozpin (like leo and summer). but she does not actually Say That. i made this analogy in the oscar interrogation post but i'll make it again: the way salem answers cinder's question is like showing her work on a math problem but not actually giving the answer. a lot of salem's dialogue is like this: she talks in examples, hints, and implications.

in fact the one time we have ever seen salem clearly state what she means is after ozma asks her "what are you saying?" <- i find this to be significant not only because it flags that other characters find salem's speech to be opaque or unclear sometimes, but because salem answers him honestly and without any hesitation, which indicates that she was not trying to be vague or obfuscate her meaning on purpose. asked for clarification, she clarifies.

then there is what she says to ozma once he tells her the whole truth: "why spend our lives trying to redeem these humans when we could replace them with what they could never be?"—now i am not going to get into my whole theory here, suffice it to say that i think that by "them" salem meant the gods in accordance with her longstanding ambitions—but the salient piece for this discussion is that this bolded phrase is a direct paraphrase from the final lines of 'the shallow sea' and i do think that that is, given the preponderance of thematic links between salem and the faunus, probably intentional, i.e. salem is quoting that myth to express her rejection of ozma's mandate (compare ozma's reliance on fairytales to communicate and make sense of his existence.)

lastly, there are several occasions when salem is talking (to her inner circle in 6.4, or to ironwood in 7.11, or oscar in 8.4) only to be interrupted with unexpected new information (ozpin is back; ruby used the lamp; oscar is fronting). in the first two examples, salem responds by either kicking everyone else out or leaving herself. see the linked post for a more thorough breakdown of her conversation with oscar, but suffice it to say that she responds in a very awkward and disjointed way before she's able to get herself back on track.

so we have a pattern of:

speaking vaguely or being cryptic, in a manner that other characters explicitly find to be confusing,

clarifying readily the one time she's asked for clarification,

paraphrasing the concluding lines of a myth about people embracing change and leaving their old selves behind to live their truth in a new world that is harsh but free, in order to articulate her rejection of "redemption" and the divine mandate,

and ending conversations very abruptly when interrupted mid-speech.

and this pattern exists in correlation with a pair of soliloquies whose language is markedly more eloquent, even poetic, and delivered with a clarity and emotional smoothness that is often lacking from her spoken dialogue.

what this suggests, to me, is that salem struggles to articulate her thoughts (the soliloquies) into words (her dialogue), and that she deals with it with preparation—by planning out what she intends to say and how she'll say it in advance. that she relies heavily on scripts and rehearses speeches and conversations in her head specifically to avoid having to speak off the cuff, in essence.

(and i think this is generally the basis for ozma's distrust and doubts: she told him the truth but in a really confusing and cryptic way that didn't always make sense. if she wasn't coherent—and how could she be after millions of years alone?—of course he wasn't sure whether he could believe what she said!)

basically, i think she's capable of being compellingly persuasive only under particular circumstances (planned speeches given to an audience primed to listen to what she says by violent, spectacular demonstrations of her immortality), and she flounders in ordinary conversation because a) she struggles to find the right words to express her meaning clearly, b) her natural affect is blunted and sometimes erratic (<- "well… :) perhaps you and i can have a better working relationship……… >:( oscar, was it? /:"), and c) she knows both of these things make her come across as an insincere liar.

<- there is a performative aspect to… nearly every scene in front of her inner circle or her enemies; that informs this reading too. as does the fact that there are many, many characters who are tangibly more charismatic than she is—ozpin, blake, oscar, cinder, robyn, ruby, yang—whereas the character whose manner of speech most resembles salem's is pyrrha, who speaks in an overly formal way and explicitly feels socially isolated and unable to form real connections with people.

[rodeoromeo]

hello !! I'm woefully unversed in bob movies and thought I'd go to the expert... besides the pat garrett one which I've seen what would you say is the best starting place? (this is surrealisticduvet lol when will we be able to send asks from sideblogs :/ )

!!! Hiiiiii thank you for coming to me with this!!!

There are a couple categories of Bob movie- there are his acting roles, there are a couple documentaries made by his team in the earlier days of his career or comprised of just straight up footage of him that function more like a narrative, and there are your standard talking head interview style documentaries. And then there’s Rolling Thunder Revue which I would hesitate to categorize any which way.

Bob’s two really significant acting roles worth visiting by absolutely anyone are Hearts of Fire and Masked and Anonymous. For someone starting from ground zero, I would recommend Hearts of Fire out of those two. It’s generally just more fun and palatable, and Bob’s performance is both hilarious and adorable. It’s a cultural touchstone in his career in my opinion and if you watch it enough time you start to genuinely believe it’s a good movie. (That being said, Masked and Anonymous IS genuinely good and I recommend it wholeheartedly, just maybe further down the line)

As far as those weird documentaries of organic footage go, the main ones you’re looking at are Don’t Look Back, Eat the Document, and The Other Side of the Mirror. Of those I most highly recommend Don’t Look Back- it’s available in way higher definition than Eat the Document, and it captures Bob’s personality and performance at a specific moment (1965) in a really special way. There’s very little music performance in it, it’s more just following him around on tour and in interviews and behind the scenes. The Other Side of the Mirror is an astonishing look at Bob’s musical evolution through his performances at the Newport Folk Festival over the years. Very different concept but I think it belongs in this category because it comes across as a very clear narrative and has an emotional arc just by being what it is.

There are a lot of typical documentaries about Bob and his career but the gold standard is really No Direction Home, by Martin Scorsese, which is full of interviews from Bob and his folky friends, as it gives a full overview of Bob’s life and career ONLY up to 1966. It’s got a lot of great footage, including remastered stuff from Eat The Document, and it’s interesting and well put together, although it’s very long. If you want to learn more about Bob and also see a lot of great footage of him, and hear from people like Pete Seeger and Joan Baez, it’s a good thing to gradually visit.

Scorsese’s Rolling Thunder Revue “a Bob Dylan Story” is somewhere between all three of these categories. It’s comprised of remastered footage from Bob’s failed 1975 film Renaldo and Clara as well as talking head interviews with a series of people. Some of these people are real and were on the tour, and some are playing characters that help spin a completely false narrative of what happened on the tour and what the purpose of this footage was. The farce is entertaining and Bob gave “interviews” for it that are really cute and funny, and the 1975 footage is some of the best Bob you’ll ever see. A lot of people have mixed feelings about this one but for me- it’s madly entertaining and the footage is remarkable and it’s like a wonderful fantasy that will sweep you away. It’s a true film.

I’m sorry, that was probably WAY more information than you needed, but now you have at the very least a base level of info about what Bob film is out there! Tldr; depending on your mood I’d recommend Hearts of Fire, Don’t Look Back, and Rolling Thunder Revue.

Thank you again! Have fun with these and pls let me know what you end up thinking of any of them! <3

[sphinxlosestheirmind]

oh it’s so over I’m inspired I’m going to write the best social media Reiji/Ryoken/Thomas fic you’ve ever seen no one @ me

(REIJI IS 16, RYOKEN IS 18, THOMAS IS 17. THIS IS CANON!!!! Unless you’re really freaky about like two year age gaps it’s not pedophilia!! Idk how people are specifically about ships in this fandom so don’t attack me!!)

Anyway I love this ship and I’ve taken to calling it GimmickShipping (GS) more under cut if you even care..

(Also I love saying “under the cut” so much, ALSO COLORED TEXT, I will be using it always and forever from now on)

The ship name came about first because I love these three and think they’d be really cute together. I’m in love with them all & they’re silly so who better to pair them with than each other!

Ok anyway actual reasoning now hah:

1. All sorts of characters have their own “gimmicks” to them that match up to their decks but these three just stood out so much to me in significant ways so I’ll list it here.

a. Reiji’s D/D/D, or different dimension demons, are such an intriguing concept specifically in the sense of his show (Arc-V) being about dimensional travel and different dimensions. I thought it was pretty ironic that this would be the deck to give him, specifically since he’s trying so valiantly to stop his father’s dimensional take over. (Almost like trying to stop a demonic takeover I guess? This metaphor is weird, take it with a grain of salt!)

Additionally, Reiji is a product OF the dimensions, seeing as without them he would have never been created (like, Leo probably wasn’t going to have any more kids. He had Ray, he ADORED her, he didn’t want more kids let alone had any intentions for Reiji specifically).

b. Ryoken/REVOLVER is all about guns. He has bullet earrings, he’s named Revolver for fucks sake. His dragons are very cyberpunk/gun themed, fitting to this narrative. His VRAINS bodysuit has the bullets decorating it all over, specifically seen on his cape-thing.

His whole thing is more stylistic in nature than story here, but I do think character design says a lot about the character as well. His deck also speaks for itself (again).

c. IV!!!! My darling Thomas Arclight! Ahhhh, how I love him. OKAY, I’ll get to the point! His was what prompted the whole thing, which is why I’m putting him last funny enough haha! His gimmick puppets definitely helped with the name, because they made me motivated enough to think about what a “gimmick” actually was!

Thomas’ whole thing is fan service- but puppets are an ironic gimmick to him as well. He’s a puppet to his father, just like his siblings are and his father is to the Barians/Vector. He plays with people like dolls, puppeteering them to his fancy as he dances to his father’s whims. He’s a very funky guy to me, and I dearly appreciate him helping me come up with the name.

Anyway hope you enjoyed this little rant hah. I just love them a lot and them being together makes me very happy, as well as literally no one else writing anything about them paired let alone as a trio! Might link the fic, might not, we’ll see how long it takes to write.

[lordisitmine]

TTNBD BLOG: PART THREE

Welcome back; as always, spoilers for this week’s installment. Sorry this post is a few days late- I had my hands full with some real-life stuff but it’s the morning of New Year’s Eve and I finally have a day off to sit and write some commentary!

Let’s talk face casts! I don’t normally do real-life face-casts for fictional characters that already exist, but for my OCs it’s kind of necessary, since no one other than me really has a concrete frame of reference for how they look. I tried to draw them of course, but that doesn’t really always translate for me into how they look in my brain. Except for Sybil. My drawing of Sybil was perfect, and the one of her mom as well, that’s exactly how I imagined those two characters, but you can and should disregard the other drawings I did lol. So, if you’re really wondering what Simeon Montrose and Madame LaChance look like, I have good news! I have face casts for them!!

In chapter two, I described Madame LaChance as “the most beautiful woman Lizzy had ever seen” and that’s because I imagined her as the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, or at least one of them, and an actress I’m obsessed with- Carla Gugino. There’s just something about her face and her body and her energy on screen that just makes me feel insane. She has this hypnotic charming quality that is exactly how I wanted characters and readers to feel when they interact with Madame. Incidentally, if you’ve never watched the Haunting of Hill House or The Fall of the House of Usher, I HIGHLY recommend that you do so. Two incredible horror series, both of them are on Netflix and they’re 8 episodes each. She is in both of them. Madame’s hair and eyes are different colours of course but like. That’s the face.

I always had a face cast for Simeon without realising it. When I described him, I had this fac in mind, and then when I actually sat down and thought “who does he look like irl?” my brain was like “Luke Evans. You were thinking of Luke Evans this whole time.” Specifically, these pictures, because his facial hair and age is similar to Simeon’s, even though Simeon’s hair and eyes are a different colour.

Perhaps now that I’ve actually nailed down my face casts, I can do proper portraits of these characters. On top of the rapidly growing pile of other sketches I want to do OOF.

CHAPTER THREE: WAIT AND HOPE

I thought it was time to have some Sybil backstory/POV. The fact that she’s half-demon and has some abilities from that is going to be a much more significant part of the story as we continue, and as a minor spoiler/teaser I will tell you that she had no idea what her dad actually is or what that makes her. Shhhh it’s a surprise for later. Obviously I’ve revealed that she’s able to see the spirits of the dead, but I’m gonna keep her other abilities hush-hush for the time being, she doesn’t even realise she has some of them, and I’ll get into the mythology of half-demon children a bit later. I promise I won’t leave you hanging.

We have a literary reference as a title again! This time it’s from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, which is a story about faking your death and getting revenge, among other things. A little on the nose maybe- but it amused me, so I included it. I liked the idea of Ciel having read it in English and having this visceral reaction to it, and then seeing if the context of the line “all human wisdom is contained in these two words- wait and hope” had a different context or meaning that made it less stupid (to him) in French, since he lives in France now, and the book was originally written in French, and things sometime get lost in translation.

Also, I’m half-accidentally half-intentionally mirroring his and Lizzy’s narratives in this story, and she was reading in the last chapter, so it just fell into place when I was trying to give him something to chew on with his angst in this chapter. Don’t worry, that’s the last literary reference I have planned for now, lol.

Let’s talk about the ring!! Ciel’s ring from the series is based on the Hope Diamond, an actual diamond that was owned by many famous people who all ended up suffering horrible deaths/trauma. Life is funny that way, but of course, people decided that it must be the diamond that was cursed. In Ciel’s case, it was a Phantomhive family heirloom, and all of his ancestors who wore the ring ended up dying horrible deaths. Including him.

So, naturally, Sebastian had to take that and turn it on its head. I already reblogged the post on my blog (scroll down a little), but Tumblr users noirserviteur and azuresins designed, 3D printed and then cast in sterling silver (with real stones I think) a replica/depiction of Ciel’s ring, which I used as reference images for my design. I changed the stone, since it is a different, but similar, diamond- the stone in my version is circular, to fit the engraving of the contract seal.

Sebastian giving Ciel a ring is another way to like, show possession, because this motherfucker is possessive. Also, the original ring was a symbol of a curse that was haunted Ciel in his mortal life. This new ring is sort of Sebastian’s way of saying “no one gets to curse/haunt you forever except me” which is super romantic. Not that either of them sees their bond as a curse, but like, it’s an eternal, unbreakable attachment, which is sort of like a curse in some ways I guess. A Super fun, romantic curse.

And they’re dancing! The song they’re dancing to is Waltz no. 19 in A Minor, b.150, OP- Posth (1860) by Frederic Chopin. It’s always a fun writing exercise to describe music as the characters are hearing it, and I hope I did a good job nailing down the vibe. These two are very Chopin-coded to me, whatever that means. I listen to a lot of classical/instrumental music when I write, and while I haven’t made any playlists, I’m partial to these ones on Spotify when I work on this story specifically. This one is one I find to be specific to Lizzy & Sybil. I am a huge music person; I can’t do anything without my tunes.

There… was not supposed to be a sex scene in this chapter. I honestly hadn’t planned on writing one, but oh boy howdy did this thing want to be written. It’s probably the fastest I’ve ever finished a sex scene (it normally takes me AGES to write porn). And it ended up being super hot (if I do say so myself). I guess these two just really wanted to fuck lmao.

Now that the contract is over (or not over, now that it has morphed into something else), Ciel and Sebastian aren’t really master and servant anymore. So, I love flip-flopping on the power dynamics between them, especially when it comes to sex. When Ciel “orders” Sebastian around in this scene, Sebastian doesn’t have to obey, but he chooses to. What would have once been a tangible command is now just role-play and it’s still so fun to write!

The Christmas stuff was fun to write too. As I said, I’m (sort of) intentionally mirroring Ciel and Lizzy’s story lines here, so I wanted Lizzy to get some jewellery too. I browsed through listings for necklaces of the time and found this one, which I thought was just perfect. I would 100% buy it if I had 1,450 US dollars lying around. I think blondes look really great in green, and Lizzy’s eyes are green, so despite her colour scheme in the anime being super pink and girly I’m putting her in a lot green in this story *glances at the next upcoming chapter). I have multiple party-type events lined up in this one so for you purists out there, don’t worry, she’ll be back in pink eventually.

I grew up in Canada, so ice skating on ponds and lakes local rinks, be it for figure skating or hockey or just for fun was a big part of my childhood. I have a lot of fond memories of ice skating with my family and I thought hey, they probably skate on the Thames and the Sienne rivers, right? We Ontarians do that in Ottawa when the Ottawa river freezes up in the winter. I didn’t even bother looking it up to see if they did it/do it in Europe, I just decided that I was going to make it happen. I did, however, make sure I was referencing ice skates as they existed in that time period. I’m not a complete lunatic.

And of course, Lizzy having to teach Sybil how to skate means they’re going to be put in Physical Proximity mwahahaha. The image of Lizzy getting kissed on the cheek by a pretty girl and falling over was burned in my brain and refused to leave me alone until I wrote it. Their romantic relationship is a slower burn but it’s starting to burn brighter from here on out.

I’ll leave the commentary sparse for the last couple of scenes- I don’t want to accidentally give anything away by talking too much about the crime scene or the coalition meeting. Have you figured out who the victim is?? Do you think you might know who’s leading the coalition cult since Sir Arthur kicked it four years ago? Much to think about… until next week xoxo gossip girl

lord_is_it_mine

[grandtheftaristotle]

The Hidden Narrative of Midnights

Heyyyyyyy

So in honour of the TS11 announcement (!!!!!) and Midnights winning AOTY (!!!!!!!!) I'm posting this essay I accidentally wrote months ago after relistening to You're Losing Me and finally figuring out how Midnights works as an album

I was SUPER thrown by this album when it first came out and how different it was from the way it was marketed, but after Joever and YLM I think I get it now.

So, below the cut, here's how I make sense of Midnights, the order of the songs, and how it was presented to us.

Enjoy, and I'm sorry.

Okay so I finally listened to You’re Losing Me again and now I’m thinking about it in the wider context of the album

Cause we agree that it kinda redefines the whole thing right? Reframes the album not just as her reminiscing on nights she was up late and for what reasons, but reminiscing specifically about memories that could help her decide whether to stay or move on. She described this love as being golden like daylight on Lover; it makes sense that nighttime is when she has to grapple with the notion of ending it.

So we start with Lavender Haze, which as a title track genuinely makes me insane when I think about the amount of parallels it has to You’re Losing Me. The way it reframes her SO’s quiet demeanour as something positive (“you don’t ever say too much / and you don’t really read into my melancholia”), rather than the nail in the coffin it ultimately was (“do something babe, say something / choose something babe, risk something”), the references to marriage and how inconsequential it is (“I wouldn’t marry me either”), “you don’t really read into my melancholia” vs “how can you say you love someone you can’t tell is dying”, “I’m damned if I do give a damn what people say” vs “a pathological people pleaser”. I could go on.

Next we go to Maroon, which has her thinking back on another breakup that had a significant emotional impact on her (“and I wake with your memory over me / that’s a real fucking legacy to leave”) (I’m also thinking about that in two different ways; their memory as a legacy they left behind [“a real fucking legacy to leave”] and leaving AS a legacy [“a real fucking legacy, to leave”] - the last one could tie into the central conflict). The way the song trails off at the end is kinda like her thoughts trailing off; she doesn’t really come to a conclusion about the whole thing, it’s just a memory. A real fucking legacy to leave, to leave.

Her next thought is “it’s me! Hi! I’m the problem! It’s me!” Anti Hero’s pretty self explanatory; she’s thinking that maybe she’s the problem here; overreacting about the whole thing, trying to get ahead of him leaving her, up late and stressed now that her depression’s taking over. I interpret ‘all the people I’ve ghosted stand there in the room’ as referring to the people in the memories she sings about; people she’s broken up with, old friends, even old versions of herself. Did she leave them, or did they leave her? Either way it was probably her fault, she decides.

From there she looks back on when she first fell for her partner; they both fell at the same time, and it was magical, like snow on the beach. Not only was it magical and beautiful, like it was destined to happen, but it shows they were both on the same page. So why can’t they be now?

You’re On Your Own, Kid. This might be one of her heaviest songs, with one of the most stark revelations - “like I’d be saved by a perfect kiss”. This whole time she was hoping that the right love, the right person, would save her and make her feel complete. She thought she found that person, but they haven’t made her feel complete, and now she’s thinking of ending it. Just like the person at the beginning of the song - “I wait patiently, he’s gonna notice me”. But they didn’t, and now her current partner doesn’t seem to either. “You’re on your own, kid / you always have been” - that line ends up being comforting. You’ve always been on your own, and you’ve made it here anyway. There’s no reason why you can’t still go far.

Speaking of going far, Midnight Rain kinda plays off the ideas set up in YOYOK in how it refers to a relationship from her youth; before she became famous. She talks about how “he wanted a bride, I was making my own name”; paralleling her reluctance to get married in Lavender Haze and the ultimate revelation that her current partner doesn’t seem to want it. This is kinda where we start to question if she really doesn’t want to get married, or if she’s trying to convince herself she doesn’t. Personally I think it’s a mix of both; around the time Lavender Haze takes place, she was perfectly content to be unmarried and just stay ‘in that lavender haze’, as it were. In the honeymoon phase. I also think that, whether she wanted it or not, the constant speculation was grating on her and made the topic unpleasant. That said, at some point she likely wanted to take things that extra step, but her SO was either very reluctant or very nonchalant about it, leading us here. She looks back on when someone did want to marry her (eventually), but she backed out on them to focus on her career. This might be a case of thinking ‘I chose my career over a relationship; am I simply doing it again?’

Question is similar to Maroon in that it’s looking back on a past relationship for some hint of what to do here. All the questions she wanted to ask her ex (or maybe did), some of which she wants to ask her current partner (“did you wish you put up more of a fight?”) Also thinking of “does it feel like everything’s just second best after that meteor strike”. Very “I promise that you’ll never find another like me” coded. Convincing herself that if the break up did happen, her partner would never find someone better. I will defend ME! with my dying breath.

Now for Vigilante Shit. This one is significantly harder to nail down than all the others; it feels a bit out of place within the narrative and more like a tease for Rep TV. That said I do want to touch on two things: “I don’t start shit but I can tell you how it ends” aka “I am a confident badass and I will ultimately do what is best for me” and “picture my thick as thieves with your ex wife”. Marriage themes once again, this time with a divorce. Interesting. 

With newfound confidence, she lets herself bejewelled. Once again, this is pretty self explanatory. She can still make the whole place shimmer, even if she doesn’t have a man. But that said, she still wants him in her life. “Familiarity breeds contempt / don’t put me in the basement when I want the penthouse of your heart”. This song isn’t just saying ‘I’m incredible’, it’s saying ‘I’m incredible and I want others to notice, especially this one person’.

(I will take this moment to acknowledge that, yes, Taylor has said this song is about her return to pop music rather than a relationship. However, since I’m looking at these songs through the specific lens of her making a decision about her relationship, I’m reinterpreting it. I realize that this wasn’t the original intention of the song, but I’m setting that aside for the sake of the narrative.)

These last several songs have clearly showed Taylor leaning more toward ‘break up’, with Bejewelled having more of a middle ground perspective. That song now acts as a bridge into the last four songs of the standard edition, which all have her thinking more about the positive aspects of the relationship, all the reasons she wants to save it. We start with Labyrinth, which details the anxiety she felt at the beginning of the relationship and how this person helped her through it (“you would break your back to make me break a smile”). All the effort they put in then, something they clearly aren’t doing now. Another notable line is “I’ll be getting over you my whole life” which connects to “you might just have dealt the final blow” in You’re Losing Me; she feels she may never recover from the potential break up.

Next up we have Karma, which has similar mixed messages to Bejewelled. On one hand, we have the assertion that karma is her boyfriend, a god, the breeze in her hair on the weekend, a relaxing thought, a cat purring in her lap cause it loves her, and she and karma vibe like that. It suggests that if she has karma, she doesn’t need anything else, because it does everything that others can’t. Karma will always be there for her and act in her favour because she always does the right thing, so no matter what decision she makes it will be on her side. But then in the bridge we have her saying “karma is the guy on the screen coming straight home to me”. A quick reminder that karma brought this person into her life, so perhaps they were the right thing all along. If her partner came along at just the right time and has been there for her since, then ending it might not be the right decision.

And now, Sweet Nothing. Ohhhhhhhh dear god Sweet Nothing. First of all, within the narrative. Throughout the album there has been talk of people wanting things from Taylor, be it career related or life related. “I have this dream my daughter in law kills me for the money” “all they keep asking me if if I’m gonna be your bride” “life is emotionally abusive” “I hosted parties and starved my body” (the entirety of YOYOK actually) “he wanted a bride, I was making my own name” “you know how much I hate that everyone expects me to bounce back just like that” and so on. But this song details a relationship where the person doesn’t necessarily want anything from her. It’s all nice and quiet and completely peaceful. And then you remember what she said earlier in Midnight Rain - “he wanted it comfortable, I wanted that pain” and the themes in both YOYOK and Bejewelled about wanting to be noticed, and then when you hear You’re Losing Me you’re hit with “do something babe, say something”. And you realize ‘oh shit, maybe that quiet life isn’t entirely what she wants here’. And our hypothetical version of Taylor, who’s thinking about all this in the middle of the night while deciding whether or not to end the relationship, realizes ‘oh shit maybe that quiet life isn’t entirely what I want here’. But she doesn’t come to that conclusion til later, cause right now she’s just caught up in the thrill of being with someone who, for once, doesn’t want anything from her. Only later on will she discover that she might want him to want something from her. 

We finish off the standard edition with Mastermind, which has similar themes to Snow on the Beach, with these two people being on the exact same page at the start of their relationship. Taylor thought she was manipulating everything behind the scenes, because she’s always in control of the situation. And as far as the media’s concerned, she tricks men into dating her just so she can write songs about it later, so she might as well lean into that, right? Except, turns out her partner knew what she was doing the entire time and was totally fine with it. So not only can he read her like a book, but he wants the same thing she does. There’s no need to be concerned about their relationship, cause they’ve always been on the same page. Additionally, there’s a theme of control at play here that leads into the next song; she felt fully in control at the start of their relationship, since she thought she was masterminding the whole thing. But now, she’s losing that control.

Which leads us into Hits Different, the first bonus track. I was debating for a while whether I wanted this before or after the 3am tracks, but I think it fits best here, mainly because of how it aligns with Mastermind. While that song was about her being in control, this song is about her spiralling out of control. I heard someone say it sounds like the Blank Space girl fell in love for the first time and I CANNOT stop thinking about that because it’s SO accurate. Especially with the lines about “switching out these Kens” and “skipping town like an asshole outlaw”. Much like with Mastermind, it seems to lean more into that satirical ‘man-eater’ image she toyed with in Blank Space, in that it sounds like someone who has never had their heart broken before and is having a full blown CRISIS about it. And while that’s not the kind of person Taylor is, it does show just how much this is affecting her; that the prospect of this breakup is hitting her harder than any she’s previously had. 

Now onto the 3am tracks. The Great War is pretty self explanatory; same vibe as Snow on the Beach and Labyrinth of “we did it then, why can’t we do it now?” The one thing I will touch on is the lines at the end of the bridge - “that was the night I nearly lost you / I really thought I lost you”. Calls back to Maroon (“and I lost you”), and parallels You’re Losing Me. She was able to step back and examine the situation and realize she was losing him, but he’s unable to do the same while he’s losing her.

Bigger Than The Whole Sky as a song has a couple of popular interpretations; one that it’s about a miscarriage, and one that’s it’s about the loss of who Taylor was before JM. I’m partial to the first reading, but the second one works best with this narrative (and was more likely Taylor’s intent in my opinion). The idea that this relationship fucked her up so bad that she’s actively mourning who she was before it is honestly devastating, and it makes sense that she would worry about the same thing happening if she leaves her current partner, since they’ve been together for so long. It’s possible that this song is also mourning the life she will never have with him if they ultimately break up, which I could go further with but I think it’s best if I leave it there. 

Paris is another song that becomes a lot sadder when you view it from this angle. Specifically, the line “I want to brainwash you into loving me forever”; when you consider just how much she wants for the relationship to work and the degree to which she’s trying to convince herself it’ll be okay, the desperation in this line becomes exceedingly obvious. I also really love how it just trails off at the end. Given how energetic most of this song is, a traditional pop ‘quiet chorus LOUD CHORUS’ ending would make the most sense. And we do get that quiet chorus, but no loud one to follow it up. The way she carefully improvs and repeats the lines at the end makes it sound like she’s biding time waiting for the music to jump back in again, but it never does. She’s waiting for that spark of magic to return, but it doesn’t. Instead the mid tempo vibe continues into…

High Infidelity! Finally after all these years we get some answers about the Calcium situation! With the end of Paris, it’s like she was actively trying to avoid revisiting this memory, but it came back all the same. And if I can be real for a second here, this is, in my opinion, one of the best songs she’s ever written. But anyway, this song tells us about the last time she was in a relationship headed for marriage, but in this case she very much did not want it to happen. She also explains how she cheated on her partner, either literally or emotionally, and how this new person ‘brought her back to life’. This song does two things; it describes a relationship where leaving was the best option because her partner didn’t take the time to notice or know her (“I’d pay if you’d just know me” is VERY You’re Losing Me coded), and explains how another person made her feel special and alive again while she was being stifled. If we assume her current partner was ‘the other person’, then this song also holds the mixed messages of Bejewelled and Karma. He brought her out of this stifling relationship; there’s no way he brought her into another one. He knew what that was like for her, he’d never act that way even accidentally, right?

It’s official: there’s been a glitch. This song is fascinating to me because a glitch is typically a negative thing, but here it’s being framed as a positive. Very ‘I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this’ coded. But at the same time, some glitches only exist for a short time before getting resolved, like a blip. So this song can be viewed in a few ways; their relationship started because of a glitch, their current problems are because of a glitch (the way he’s acting now conflicting with how their relationship started), or their relationship IS the glitch, and it’s slowly getting resolved, meaning it will be ending soon. While the first one is definitively what the song is about, the last two could show the headspace she’s in while looking back on it. That’s what I mean with all the songs really; what they’re about doesn’t change, but by examining their order we can eke out a thought process that caused her to look back on these memories.

And now we get to Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve. Easily one of the most harrowing songs in Taylor’s discography, with its anger, desperation, and overwhelming aura of regret. Oddly enough, I have a hard time placing this relative to the other songs; I feel like it’s where my ‘thought process’ theory gets a little shaky. Unlike the other songs, where I could work certain parts into the current situation, it’s very hard to do that with this song because I feel like it almost downplays what it’s really about. The closest I came to this issue previously was with Bigger Than The Whole Sky; because I hear that song and think of a miscarriage, it was hard to separate it from that interpretation in my mind. But I’d argue it’s more difficult with WCS, because we know definitively what it’s about, while we don’t know for sure what BTTWS is about. These two songs are already connected; the alternative theory for BTTWS is that it’s her saying goodbye to the person she was before the relationship. But even then, it’s still a theory. 

My only real idea for how WCS connects to the timeline is that it’s her thinking back on a relationship that fundamentally changed her. The things she says in the song makes it clear that this relationship has haunted her for years after it happened, and that maybe it affects her perception of love now. It’s a memory she felt she had to go back to in order to make a decision about her current one, but she doesn’t come away with any real conclusions about it, except for the fact that it still bothers her to this day. Unlike her current one, she didn’t get anything good out of that relationship, nothing that makes her glad she went through it. I’m thinking about an interview she gave during the 1989 era, about how she came to realize that just because a relationship wasn’t built to last doesn’t mean it wasn’t special while it was there. It’s something I think she’s come to embrace in recent years and songs; the idea that you can appreciate the good times you had with a person even if it didn’t end well. But in WCS, there’s none of that. There was nothing good, no good memories, nothing salvageable in that relationship. Just a wound that won’t close, lost girlhood, stained glass windows in her mind.

…well that was a bit of a ramble.

So we’ll assume that WCS is her looking back on a relationship that deeply affected her, and that it’s more a byproduct of looking back on all these memories. She was bound to end up there eventually the deeper she went into her thought process; at the very bottom, she found the cathedral where it all went wrong.

And now, the last track before our grand finale. Dear Reader.

You know, I try really hard to not read too far into Taylor’s songs. Especially since folkmore, I do my best not to assume everything she writes matches up exactly with what’s going on in her life. But man, the first time I heard Dear Reader, I got this sinking feeling that everything with Joe wasn’t what it seemed.

Just that bridge. It breaks my heart a little every time I hear it, and it really drives home the point that we truly never really know what’s going on in her life. “You wouldn’t take my word for it if you knew who was talking / if you knew where I was walking / to a house not a home all alone cause nobody’s there”. Listening to all the love songs on this album, we never would’ve known something was wrong. She’s built a career off of being so open about her life in her music, but there are some things she’s just not ready to share She seems to think no one would listen to her thoughts on love if we knew her relationship was on the rocks. “You should find another guiding light / but I shine so bright”. Despite all this, she’ll never stop writing music and sharing certain parts of her life with us. Not her whole life, but what she’s ready for us to hear.

That’s why You’re Losing Me didn’t come out right away. She wasn’t ready for us to hear it in 2022, but she was in 2023, after the news broke. I find it interesting how Dear Reader is kinda saying ‘you don’t really know my life and you don’t know everything I’m going through’ and You’re Losing Me follows it up by showing us why. 

You’re Losing Me parallels nearly every song on Midnights. Some of them are admittedly stretches, and I don’t have time to list them all here, but here are some examples:

“You say I don’t understand and I say I know you don’t” / “Saw the wide smirk on your face, you knew the entire time”

“I’m getting tired even for a phoenix, always rising from the ashes” / “Ask me why so many fade but I’m still here”

“Stop, you’re losing me” / “Oh no, I’m falling in love”

“How can you say you love someone you can’t tell has died?” / “There’s many different ways that you can kill the one you love, the slowest way is never loving them enough”

“All I did was bleed as I tried to be the bravest soldier” / “Soldier down on that icy ground looked up at me with honour and truth”

“I’m the best thing at this party” / “When I walk in the room I can still make the whole place shimmer”

“A pathological people pleaser” / “Argumentative antithetical dream girl”

“Who only wanted you to see her” / “I wait patiently, he’s gonna notice me”

“Do something babe, say something” / “I find myself running home to your sweet nothing”

“Lose something babe, risk something” / “He wanted it comfortable, I wanted that pain”

“I can’t find a pulse, my heart won’t start anymore.” It’s the culmination of the whole night. The moment she looks at the clock and sees it’s 7am. Time to face the reality and make the decision she’s been building to all this time.

I feel kinda bad making this analysis, because it feels like I’m trying to make the album sad so I’ll care about it more. But the fact is that this becomes a stronger body of work (at least for me) with this throughline. It makes the boppier songs make more sense for an album that’s supposed to be so melancholic. I was so confused when I heard songs like Bejewelled and Karma for the first time cause the way she presented the album to us made it sound a LOT darker than some of these songs. But when you look at it like this, that she’s grappling with such a big decision and that’s her reason for revisiting these more upbeat memories, it all starts to come together, and the darker presentation makes more sense.

Not all these songs need to be sad. Taylor isn’t always sad. Her music doesn’t need to be sad for me to like it. It’s just the vibes of the album compared to the sound that threw me off. But when I view it through this lens, I kinda get it now. Midnights is still at the bottom of my album ranking; probably will be for a while. But I have a greater appreciation for it after puzzling out this narrative.

[anderstrevelyan]

It’s Wednesday, so why not? Here’s a bit of WIP

I’m enjoying how Garrett Amell sometimes has a stunning lack of self-awareness (thinking of the time he confidently declared to Irving he'd never want more power from a demon, not long before making a deal with one for exactly that).

Feeling shy today, so an open tag!

“Do you think,” [Anders] says, leaning over conspiratorially, “that if I were to go find an extra pair of trousers, you could move them around? Subtly enough that he can’t tell you’re casting?”

“I could make them give chase, yes.”

“And you would?”

Garrett returns his smile. “Sure. Why not?”

Anders clasps his shoulder as he stands, a gesture that sparks a startling flip in Garrett’s gut. “Oh, this might be the best day of my life.”

As he’s left alone with the rhythmic ring of Oghren’s whetstone, Garrett puts down his quill. He’d felt such a flip a few days ago, too, as he’d sat with him in the marsh, but he’d expected that to dissipate. Like it always has when he’s passed up opportunities to pursue someone, whether for the Blight or an inopportune templar patrol. It’s never stuck with him like this, even in the forced proximity of the Circle, this kind of draw after he’d decided it wasn’t what he wanted.

Because Garrett Amell is not going to sleep with Anders. He’s decided. It’s not— Well, it’s not like he hasn’t been tempted to try, but a promise is a promise, especially one made to himself. It won’t help, with the sting of loneliness that’s plagued him these last long months, to see him after, so bright and magnetic every day around the keep, when Anders inevitably sets his eyes elsewhere.

For a brief, treacherous moment, he wishes they were back in the Circle, that they’d both somehow never left, where things like this had felt simple, easy. A long kiss at the end of a secluded hallway. A quick fuck in a storage room, fevered and efficient. A break in the monotony, free from the longing for something more. Because there couldn’t be.

Of course, he doesn’t actually wish that. Not for himself, and especially not for Anders, who’s probably the only person he’ll ever meet who so deeply understands where he’s been—how precious this fraught, precarious freedom is now. 

Anders returns and drops a pair of trousers in the corner as he makes significant eye contact, then strides over to Oghren and leans casually against the wall. 

Garrett closes his eyes and tries to block all thoughts of the Circle, of how being around Anders has started to make him feel—untethered, unsure, entirely unfamiliar.

This part’s been really fun for me since what’s literally going on is a scene I wrote ages ago, as part of the original discovery writing phase of this project, but I’ve been reworking the internal narrative this week to make it actually fit with where Garrett is at in the chapter it’s landing in—feels fresh and new to write while recapturing some of the energy and enthusiasm of the early days.

[bluebunnyears-08]

Mr. Archive Guy, back again with another writing prompt idea!  

This basic idea’s kind of simple, but all things considered, I think it’s one you’ll get a REAL kick out of writing, Bluebunnyears.

I call it: “See Ya, Buddy.”

So it’s that fateful moment in Episode 2 where Sonic is about to be killed by the Chaos Council’s machine.  The hedgehog looks over sadly at Nine and says what could’ve been his real last words: “See Ya, Buddy.”  

What I’d like you to write is Nine’s POV narrative of THAT MOMENT.  What specific feelings came into Nine’s heart when he thought Sonic was about to be killed?  What specific thoughts played through his mind when Sonic the Hedgehog’s presence in his life took on a whole new level of significance and worth? (And don't be afraid to go into detail!)

Narrating that part of Episode 2 entirely from Nine’s POV, start from a point shortly before Sonic says the words “See You, Buddy”, and end at the point where Nine frees Sonic and says, “Okay, hedgehog, you’re up!”  

Have fun!   (As always, I’m really looking forward to seeing this one on “Archive Of Our Own!”)

Hello again! I've actually been wanting to see what Nine's perspective of this was, and I have a couple of ideas in my head.

And thank you! I will have fun!

================================================

This was it.

It was over for both of them. Nine's shackles felt heavier at the thought, and he could practically feel the electricity from the stun guns latch onto his fur and bring more pain. But he was more focused on the struggling blue hedgehog in front of him, held by electric pulses of shackles of his own, the red beam of the energy extractor getting closer and closer.

Sonic was beginning to panic even more as it did so, having been rudely cut off by those monsters. The machine was getting closer, ready to cut the urchin's life short just to give more power to cruel dictators, and Nine couldn't look away.

He didn't know why, this was an awful thing, nobody would want to watch someone die like that, but he couldn't look away even knowing that it was a twisted curiosity of his own and a sense of hypnosis, one he couldn't break.

The hedgehog was going on and on about his "friends", thanking random people, but it didn't matter to the dictators.

They just wanted power.

The beam was set up now, and Sonic's face fell with dread, and Nine felt a strange feeling wash over him. Something uncomfortable and somewhat panicked and sad, something he didn't know what to call it.

Guilt? He had nothing to be guilty about, they were captured because the blue idiot decided to go out from cover. And he didn't have any reason to be ashamed.

Maybe it was fear, not for the hedgehog, he hardly knew him, but it was that he was going to be next on the chopping block.

Sonic suddenly turned to him, eyes filled with panic and sadness, but also some kind of concern.

That's when the blue blur spoke his true last words, words Nine never expected.

Words Nine never thought he'd ever hear.

"See ya, buddy."

And everything went in slow motion.

Nine felt that horrible feeling come over tenfold, his jaw-dropping. That wasn't what he was expecting. He was expecting pleas for help or mercy, not a silent admission of his incoming death alongside such an affectionate term.

'Buddy'

Nobody's ever called him that before. Nobody's ever treated him with such kindness before. Nobody's ever touched him with a caring and soft touch, it was more kicks, hits, and pulling. Nobody's ever looked at him with anything other than disgust or unexplained hate.

No...

This hedgehog told him of another life he could've had.

No...

This hedgehog gave him warmth and care, things he craved more than anything. Who can give him that, now it was going to end?

No!

There was a sudden movement, and the extractor was quickly turned away. Nine felt a sense of relief, looking up to see one of the resistance leaders, a bat.

The Council and hunk of metal were distracted by the fight, so Nine took his chance. He got to the computer and put his skills to the easy test, getting those cuffs off.

His eye caught the sight of the now rolling wheel that the hedgehog was stuck in, so he directed his attention to freeing the now dazed hedgehog.

Once he did, he called out to the urchin now trying to stand.

"Okay hedgehog, you're up!"

[r-2-peepoo]

I actually wanted to clarify part of this because I didn’t feel good about my wording at the time and just forgot to add onto it.

When I say basically no one else works being shipped with Cody, I don’t literally mean that. I think Obi Wan is the most effective choice narratively because he’s closest to him. All other significant relationships Cody has are with his brothers, and if you’re into ships like that then go for it, I’m not here to police you, but I’m definitely not, which only leaves Obi Wan as far as I’m concerned.

But the point I intended to make was how well Codywan lends itself to the idea that the Jedi were the best people to lead the clones. Both groups are very compatible and, while the entire situation wasn’t ideal, the Jedi were very much the best case scenario. You can see it in Cody and Obi Wan, but also Rex and Ahsoka, Mace and Ponds, Plo and Wolffe. Cody and Obi Wan are the only ones I view as romantic but that’s just because of the drama it adds to the story lmao. Their platonic bond is also compelling. Pairing up the people who aren’t viewed as people with the empaths who can physically feel life in the force is sort of a match made in heaven, despite how dire the circumstances are.

Obi Wan is simply the best option based on the options Cody currently has as a character without inventing OCs. It’s not that Cody shouldn’t exist as his own character, it’s just a fact that currently most of his scenes are with Obi Wan, aside from the one in TBB. I want Cody to infinitely more screen time by himself because the untapped potential is astounding so I get the frustration people feel when Cody is defined only by his relationship with Obi Wan in fanfiction and I don’t like it either, but it does reflect canon and is a fault in both things.

Obi Wan is also just a canonically very considerate, kind person. If he were to develop feelings for Cody, I cannot fathom him ever overstepping any boundaries or abusing his power. He’d just suffer in silence and that would be it. It’s not because Obi Wan is better than everyone else around him. I actually just think it’s a very Jedi trait for him to have and he exemplifies the best out of the Jedi we see. Jedi are supposed to keep the peace and find value in the living force and move with empathy and that extends to how they treat the people around them too. Obi Wan loves his fellow Jedi, he loves his padawan, he loves his padawan’s padawan and he loves Cody too, along with so many others. How you perceive the exact nature of that love is up to you, but to love someone is to treat them with empathy and respect and that is what Obi Wan would give to Cody if he had feelings for him.

I just saw a really stupid take from a Star Wars fan (I know, absolutely unheard of! (heavy sarcasm)) so here is a reminder:

People who ship clones with Jedi are more than aware of the power dynamic. That’s a huge part of what makes them interesting. If we were to to ship Cody with basically anyone else other than Obi Wan, it probably wouldn’t work as well because Obi Wan is precisely the last person who would ever want to pressure him or cross his boundaries.

The Jedi were totally screwed over and backed into a war that goes against so much of what they stand for and on top of that, now they have an entire army of brand new humans to lead. All of those brand new humans are totally unique and just experiencing the world for the first time, even though they’re all mature adults too. It’s a totally screwed up situation which puts so much added pressure onto the Order, so we throw romantic feelings on top of that and we’re not supposed to find that absurdly compelling?

Obi Wan is literally defined by his empathy and his kindness. The reason shipping him with Cody works so well is because there is no one who represents what the Jedi are meant to be better than him. Goodness is at the core of his character. There would never be a day that he didn’t value Cody’s wellbeing over his own feelings. Not to mention that they’re both so dedicated to their beliefs and responsibilities that a relationship is never even realistically an option while the war is going on.

Codywan is about the yearning. It’s about them both knowing they have feelings for each other and not being able to do anything about it because they are fighting for something much bigger than themselves. It’s about the infamous “after the war” conversation that they never got to have. It’s about them meeting again on Tatooine years later, finally on equal footing and completely alone in the galaxy, bonded together by their grief.

That’s why people love Codywan. The suggestion of anything otherwise is just an insult to the hard work all the artists and writers have put into making some of the most incredible fanfiction and fanart and fanon lore I’ve ever seen in any fandom ever.

P.S.— the portrayal of something in a piece of media doesn’t equal the condoning or promoting of that sort of behaviour. I thought we’d long since established that. Let’s use our brains here.

[thematchmakingshow]

10 Big Questions to Ask Before Marriage to “THE ONE”!

Divorce is extremely prevalent, as well as costly and emotionally taxing. Even among those who oppose divorce, unhappy marriages abound. Marriage may also be fantastic, but given these realities, it’s vital to take the time to stop and thoroughly ask these questions to the one you’re planning to marry. In our previous blog, we told you about the 9 things to discuss before marriage. Here is the second version of that blog where we are going to tell you some of the most crucial and eye-opening questions to ask before marriage.

Is this the correct time for us to get married?

This might be a daunting question to ask before marriage, especially if you and your partner did not establish a relationship timetable before becoming engaged. Is there any reason to put off getting married for a little longer? For example, maybe you haven’t been together that long, or maybe you’re still working through some challenges, or maybe it’ll be difficult to think about wedding preparations for the next year due to your employment. Remember, what’s the rush if you both know you’re going to spend eternity together anyway?

What does an “ideal marriage” look like to you?

When it comes to marriage, we can discuss each other’s dreams or desires.

Everyone who is planning to marry has a tale or a narrative in their brain about what that would entail for them. This question is significant because it will provide you with insight into the aspects of marriage that are most important to your partner. Then you may compare “notes” about what an ideal marriage means to both of you.

Consider the following:

What does the term “marriage” imply to you?

Why do you want to marry?

What do you think will happen to our relationship once we are married?

What does being a good husband, wife, or spouse implicate?

How do you deal with stress, frustration, and disappointment?

This question focuses on your partner’s ability to self-soothe and copes effectively. “When things happen in life, we either deal with them positively or negatively. It’s useful to know how your partner handles things when life throws him or her a curveball.

Furthermore, when you’re stressed, sad, angry, or dealing with other difficult emotions, we recommend that you ask each other what you need. India’s first-ever matchmaking show will give you a chance to know a person completely before getting married!

People experience what is known as meta-emotions. Meta-emotion is how we feel about our feelings. Many couples suffer from a meta-emotion mismatch. This indicates that one person believes that emotions are good, healthy, and essential to share, whilst the other believes that they are harmful and should not be addressed. The first individual may prefer to study and process, whereas the second is more prone to leap to solutions. It can make a huge difference if you learn how your spouse prefers to be responded to in terms of their emotions.

How should we deal with conflict?

You should have a good idea of how you will handle disagreements as a couple by the time you are married. Nonetheless, we encourage inquiring explicitly about how you want to resolve conflicts when you are married.

If we change our thoughts on something extremely important in our lives, how should we communicate about it? People’s views on children, money and career ambitions shift all the time. What would you do if anything like this occurred to you?

Simply asking this question exposes the fact that you will change your mind about things and that this is normal. Normalizing change is beneficial in the long term since it leads to more open and truthful communication.

How much alone time do you need?

Everyone requires alone time, but some require more than others. If you are unaware that your spouse needs alone time, you may believe that they are distant, angry, or resentful when they seek space. Establishing early on that you both require alone time—and how it shows itself—can not only enrich your relationship but will also prevent future uncertainty.

What’s your biggest fear?

It’s not an easy question to ask before marriage, but it can help you get to the bottom of what makes someone tick. Marriage is about comprehension—and not just comprehension of your hopes, dreams, and ambitions. It’s also about comprehending fears, regrets, and struggles, particularly those related to marriage. Make sure you’re asking the tough questions, and your marriage will be much more understanding.

Many people grew up in households where marriage was not regarded positively. Be ready to have open and frank discussions about it. Nurture and consider those fears, and work together to address them.

What are some boundaries you’d like to establish with in-laws and extended family?

Both sides’ in-laws play a crucial role, especially in Indian families. As a result, you’re certain to have questions concerning this subject. From determining whether he considers your parents to be his to establishing boundaries with both sets of parents. If you enter a joint family, consider how he intends to make decisions about you two, how he intends to make time for you despite the fact that the entire family will be living under the same roof, and so on. Inquire and be open to learning what he expects of you, and vice versa.

Do you mind if I make more money than you?

Whatever your current situation is, life is unpredictable. As a result, it is ideal to gain understanding by asking such hypothetical inquiries that may eventually become a reality. Nothing is more important than a supportive and encouraging husband. It is a blessing to have a partner who is your biggest cheerleader in your career or in life in general.

How do you want to raise your kids?

If you want to have children, you should also discuss how you want to raise them once you have them.

Consider the following:

Will you be strict or laid-back parents?

How would you raise your children?

Will one of you take time off from work to look after the children when they are young?

What does being married mean to you?

When it comes to marriage, it is critical to understand your partner’s views. This inquiry will allow you to dig into his belief system on the marriage constitution. Most of the time, we take up these views as we see our parents’ marriage. Recognize what and who they look up to as a relationship objective. This question can also help you determine whether he is mentally prepared to take on responsibilities or if he is simply following peer pressure. Keep in mind that marriage does not always mean the same thing to everyone, so coming to an agreement may be highly advantageous.

For a Happy Marriage ..

Marriage is a significant step that must be taken after careful consideration of several factors. Although you may admire the individual and believe he/she is ‘THE ONE,’ there are several issues that must be addressed. Asking the proper questions before marriage, which is often overlooked, will help you acquire perspective on what to expect from your marital life. These aren’t the most general questions to ask before marriage on the first encounter; rather, they are embarrassing ones that you avoid answering. These awkward but necessary questions will provide you with a thorough understanding of your partner’s beliefs and may save you both heartache in the future.

[haleigh-sloth]

On Mirio, and that thing he said:

Hori does this weird thing where he gives me reasons to bring up old topics I’ve rambled about in the past. I’ve literally written damn essays about the LOV and their issues as a group, and this chapter—though the moment itself was short—gave us a significant moment that brings up the League as a group.

Also side note before I get started—I’m basically indifferent to Mirio, but the sentiment behind his statement….genuinely makes me like him more.

I’ve talked about this before how the LOV and 1A foil each other, and gone on and on and on about how the LOV are all extremely tunnel visioned, but I’m gonna talk about it again because Mirio said what he said.

I’m not here to compare the two groups and say who is better yadda yadda—I personally feel the LOV are written and fleshed out ten times better than 1A, others feel the opposite, but that’s not the point of this post.

My thesis lol: The LOV are a strong group of people who all trust each other (sometimes to a fault!), 1A is a strong group of people who also trust each other. But one of these groups (1A) exposes the weaknesses/downfalls of the other (LOV).

The League is a broken group. While it may have seemed like they were on their shit and had it all figured out together as a unit after MVA and right before Jaku, I think the first war and then this entire final war literally from the get go up to now, are exposing that this wasn’t the case.

I mean let’s start with what the story is showing us—

The war starts and the League all got split up immediately. Now I know this could be viewed as a bad thing for them because “Oh no! They’re separated!” But ehhh—evidence tells us so far that, had they not been separated, well, their situation would still just be…awful lol. So them being separated is a good thing—not to the characters of course, but it’s good to the narrative.

So—the League is separated and they’re all going down their own destructive paths. And that’s what this was all gonna lead to—destruction and misery, and for some (one) of them, death.

The argument that they’d be happy as long as they got to destroy everything and still stick together…well that’s not really supported by anything we’ve seen so far—as they all have different “goals��, different wants and needs. None of which destruction was ever truly going to satisfy, for any of them. But we also know that they all do take each other into account, to some extent, when contemplating those goals. And like…Touya and Shouto’s encounter is a good testament to the necessity behind separating them for this war. And Toga’s and Shigaraki’s and even Spinner’s seems like it will bolster this as well. Eventually.

So now I’m gonna bring it back to this chapter and Mirio’s accusation of Shigaraki not having any friends.

WE know that’s not true, right? Shigaraki also knows that’s not true. So why does it strike a nerve—a nerve deep enough to somewhat shake TomuAFO’s consciousness and give Tomura the upper hand, even if only for a brief moment?

Well—it’s because of what Mirio said. “If you’d had friends, then you’d understand that there are things you can’t destroy.”

Now look, Mirio is a protagonist, and the framing of this scene indicates that you’re supposed to agree with what Mirio is saying.

So given that, we KNOW that, yes, Shigaraki has friends. So why is he still trying to destroy everything? Shigaraki contradicts himself, and in a way without knowing (because he knows nothing about Shigaraki)—Mirio is calling him out on it.

I said it here already but I’ll repeat it again—

Destroying everything means destroying even the things you might want to preserve. Destroying everything in order to get rid of the bad, also means destroying the good, the good that you cherish.

That’s what Mirio is saying. If Shigaraki had friends, then he’d understand that you can’t destroy everything, because naturally you want to preserve the things you cherish. So in Mirio’s eyes, Shigaraki has nothing to cherish.

So now that I’ve fleshed that out—I’m gonna get to my main point:

The LOV are friends. They care about each other, they trust each other. They’ve grown attached to each other’s company.

So why destroy everything? Well, this is where the LOV fall short as friends to each other. They don’t know anything about each other. They are all traumatized, they all have tunnel vision, and they all are angry and hurt, and reaching for answers no matter the cost. Compress even said it himself—they didn’t bother digging into each others’ pasts. But that’s exactly why they all don’t know what each other really wants and really needs. They all have individual mindsets right now—and none of those mindsets are supportive of each other. (Talked about there). And those individual mindsets have landed them in their current predicaments.

Because you know what? For all Shigaraki knows, what happened with Twice could have happened with Toga, Touya, or Spinner by now in this war. And he wouldn’t know. Touya was pretty much on his way to dying, after all. And Mirio saying this to Shigaraki is a wake up call that this destruction they are seeking led to this.

But there’s more to it than that. Shigaraki’s friends—again—all have different things they need and want. If he destroys everything, he destroys the things they need and want. He said he leaves room for his comrades’ wishes—but the reality is that within all that destruction he is seeking—the Todorokis, Ochacko, Tsuyu, and Midoriya would all have been caught up in that. In other words, any chance they all had at being saved, which the League wants deep down, would have been destroyed.

The thing about those people I listed is that those are the people who will (or already have, in Touya’s case) bring light to the darkness surrounding the LOV. They haven’t had the chance yet to do that, but Shigaraki’s (and the League’s) destruction would take away that opportunity entirely. And the League would stay broken, never healing.

That’s why Mirio’s statement is so important here. It calls him out on something important—if you have friends, then how can you truly destroy everything?

I brought up 1A at the beginning because they boost my point a little bit. The kids, as we’ve seen, are more open with each other. That was the entire point of the Stain arc, of the Kamino arc (Deku letting Kirishima be the one to reach out because he’s seen Bakugo and him), the retrieving Deku chapters, of the apology, and of the chapter where the kid trio spilled their true intentions and feelings with the villains. We see Bakugo’s internal growth toward his classmates after seeing the support they are all capable of lending each other. We DON’T see that same type of internal insight with the League. We see that they care, but the follow up on that has not landed them in any good situation—so far. It’s a flaw, and I think as a group they’ll overcome it closer toward the end, after they’ve gotten their heads cleared, after they can break out of their tunnel vision and see things clearer. After they’re all saved.

But yeah—Mirio’s statement builds off of a lot of League development and Mirio himself doesn’t even realize the weight behind his words lol.

This ended up longer than I wanted but it was necessary to get my point across lol.

[cursed-mars-bars]

Bunny Part 1

Straight off the bat, the fact that Jack was inspired by the bunny that Minho interacts with in the Give Me Your TMI video was golden. And the fact that his name holds significance to her cement it, this bunny is everything to her.

At least she has done some self-reflection and realized that her relationship with her ex was formed through the desperate desire for companionship rather than absolute attraction.

I love the showcase of coming out of a toxic relationship isn’t easy and some things, such as blocking their number takes time and courage to do.

Her frazzled reaction and conditioned desire to rectify everything when she bumped into Minho and spilled his coffee over him give us an even deeper look into her current mental state.

I love their contrasting approaches to the situation, she is overly apologetic whereas he is more concerned about her feeling guilty than the actual mistake.

One great thing that Jack forces her to do is focus on another living creature's needs, but by doing so she can heal and not dwell on her negative thoughts, such as their time together in the garden.

It’s quite sad that her previously her whole life was interlinked with her ex, such as their friends, proving that she hadn’t just walked away from him but her whole life too. Minho really is a fresh start for her – a stranger who doesn’t know her ex or what she was like during that part of her life, only what remained of it. She and Jack.

It was very sweet that he was willing to go out of his way to monitor his cats while they were outside to make her feel comfortable about Jack’s safety.

He casually joked about her causing him to have a blueberry muffin dependence on her, but the fact that she felt safe enough to seek his help when went missing shows that she too relies on him.

This man has my heart, you can’t tell me that he wouldn’t search the whole night if she had asked him to find Jack. 

It may be a silly comparison, but Minho describing Jack loving her and returning to her after getting lost almost represents the complete opposite of her previous relationship where she had been gifted him. Jack loves her unconditionally and seeks comfort in her, whereas her ex and his actions are the very reason that she had to leave him to protect herself. 

I honestly don’t blame Minho for having that angry reaction to those children earlier that morning, they had hurt his babies, pets that he cares about like she does for Jack, but I can appreciate the effort that he makes to ensure that he doesn’t react that way again due to knowing how scared it makes her.

We see through you and your organic carrots, sir. Just tell her that you like her muffins already, no needs to hide behind vegetables. It’s sweet to watch though so we’ll allow it.

The moment that she realized that she hadn’t blocked her ex's number due to someday gaining the courage to get closure was powerful; and the fact that Minho’s presence allowed her to gain that bravery got to me.

The amount of manipulating trash that was spewing from her exes mouth was nauseating. ‘You’re alone.’ Jokes on you, she has Jack. And Minho. 

This ex deserves a good ‘talking to’; breaking into her apartment while she was working tells you how deranged and entitled he truly is. I’m so glad that she has someone like Minho to turn to in moments like that.

I love how integrated their parts are in the story – this may sound silly but it’s not a common thing to have characters like that play such a heavy hand in the plot, often they are mentioned, and then the narrative of the rest of the story overpowers them into background characters.

I love the natural banter between Minho and y/n, it never feels forced and the romantic undertones are subtle but very present.

My heart, is when he asks her if he ever made her feel scared like her ex did and she affirms that he is someone that she finds safety in. and then he gifts her the bracelet for no other reason but that he wanted to. Just as their romance feels just right, so does their intimate moment. 

It shows you how much trust she has in him and their relationship to be that vulnerable considering how toxic her previous relationship had been.

This man is quickly becoming the standard, if he wanted to: he would wake up early every morning just to see you for a few minutes every morning. The muffins are just a bonus. 

— bunny

pairing: minho x fem!reader genre: smut, angst, fluff, strangers to lovers, neighbours!au. content: 18+ minors dni. warnings below cut. word count: 7.2k

summary: after leaving your toxic relationship, you and your bunny are completely alone in the world—until your soft spoken neighbour slowly brings down your walls.

a/n: reached 1k since i last posted. thank you for following, i appreciate you. this is my longest yet, i really hope you like it.

Keep reading

[komatsunana]

Unpopular opinion, but I think Nana K and Takumi are really good for each other. I'm just really drawn to the both of them. I think that in his own way, Takumi does really love Hachi. Hachi is warm, motherly, and gentle, things that Takumi had always been deprived of ever since he was young. Even though Hachi is spoiled and childish she is a pillar of strength and loyal to a fault to her friends. Takumi can better ground Hachi to reality, and can accept her for what she is, and Hachi can soften Takumi.

I remember that scene in the bathtub when Hachi said that Takumi can rely on her, he was so surprised, like the concept of relying on someone else is so foreign to him, which is not surprising given his background. That's why that time when Takumi received the call about Ren's death, and he held Nana's hands, is all the more significant, because Takumi does not do that, he takes care of everything by himself.

I won't excuse his problematic behaviors, but who amongst the characters in Nana are not problematic? (Nana O with her possessiveness, Ren with his addiction, Reira and Shin's self esteem issues and struggle with their self worth)

Sooooo there is LOTS to unpack here, particularly with another ask I assume is from you.

What I'll focus on here is that,, I think the relationship is FAR tilted in Hachi making Takumi a better person than the other way around. Sure Takumi can give Hachi a reality check, but this isn't something that other character's couldn't provide Hachi if given the opportunity. Additionally, Hachi is 20, later turning 21. At that age, not many 20 year olds have a firm grasp of themselves and reality. Hachi's flightiness is part of her age. We see her growing up through the series and with or without Takumi, she'd be getting a reality check just by growing up. On the other hand, the things Hachi offers Takumi are things that no one else in the series is able to offer.

Take your example of Takumi taking Hachi's hand after getting the call about Ren's death. That is a very powerful example of how Takumi depends on Hachi, yes. But later, when Hachi is still processing her grief over Ren Takumi tells her without discussion that he won't be staying at their place. When Hachi, pregnant and grieving, cries and basically expresses that she's upset and needs his support... He just tells her to go stay with Nana, like it's obvious, like he hadn't just made plans all on his own and not discussed them at all with her. It's great that it worked out to both Hachi's and Nana's benefit to be together to grieve but as we find out... Takumi leaves Hachi at Nana's without any contact whatsoever. Prioritizing Reira's well-being over Hachi's. And while, true, Reira is in need of more direct comfort and care in her state... they have phones. A phone call, A TEXT would be sufficient just to check in. But he doesn't.

Additionally, at the end of the day... Takumi has raped Hachi twice that we've seen (chapter 29 and chapter 47), because rape isn't just physically beating someone into the act. She even says it's rape in chapter 48, though narratively it is treated as a joke. He also emotionally abuses her constantly, isolating her from others and belittling her when she implies he's jealous about Nobu when he is at least a little.

The way abuse works, the abuser has many more good and charming moments with their victim. That's why abuse victims stay which is why yes, Takumi and Hachi have lots of cute moments together. Those moments are why Hachi stays, why many abused people stay with their abusive partner at least in the beginning.

I do believe completely that in those future chapters we see ahead in NANA, Takumi is a much better person because all we've seen is that he does change and feel regret over his past behaviors. A better husband and partner to Hachi, and most importantly a loving father. But none of that means Hachi would ultimately be better off with their relationship. I do enjoy Takumi's character - he is among the most interesting characters of the series - but he definitely got the better end of the deal here.

Which brings me to the word problematic. I hate that word honestly, because it brings us to situations like this where we can distill people into being ~problematic~ without naming what qualities making them so. Takumi is a rapist and abuser and this is not equal with any of the characters problematic traits you've listed. That said, I'll say that Ren's problematic flaw is NOT being an addict. Being a drug user is not a moral failing, even if how someone treats people while using drugs can be. Ren's big failing is the same as Nana's - possessiveness even if it manifests itself differently. Also... one, struggling with self-esteem and self-worth are not problematic. Reira's issue is being an adult who is in a romantic and sexual relationship with a kid who is being sex trafficked.

One of the great things about NANA is the characters and their wide range of character flaws. I think the story is better off for having all of them, with all their flaws (even if narrative handling of some of those flaws could be better imo). That doesn't mean all flaws are equal. I respect that you have that opinion and I don't think it's as unpopular as you think. I just think you're on tumblr, where most users see rape and abuse as deal breakers. Go seek out the Instagram NANA fans or if you're interested in having a nuanced discussion about Takumi join my NANA Discord here.

Thanks for the ask and I'll answer the other asks in my ask box ASAP :)